Hyderabad, Feb. 19 :     Chandrababu Naidu was left with a bit of egg on his face at lunch today. The chief minister - rather the chief executive - of Andhra Pradesh was hard-selling his futuristic balance-sheet of the state's finances at a conference here. But Naidu was brought down to earth when a visiting Swiss minister informed him that such tall claims would land a politician either in jail or in hospital in Switzerland. Pascal Couchepin, minister for economy, had a good laugh listening to Naidu's Vision-2020: a scenario in which the state's gross domestic production goes up seven times in the next two decades. The document was prepared for the state government by management consultants McKinsey. 'If I make impossible promises even during a normal period I will be sent to either a hospital or to jail,' Couchepin told a select audience of industrialists at a hotel here during a luncheon meeting. 'I cannot think of making such figures and claims even in election speeches in Switzerland.' An embarrassed Naidu tried to counter this by arguing that the figures projected were not exaggerated. He cited the huge rise in turnover of a Hyderabad-based drug company and asked the Swiss minister: 'If a company can, why not a state?' Couchepin was not impressed. 'Such performance is good enough for a company but not for a state,' he replied. However, he did praise Naidu's efforts as 'concise, clear and simple'. Couchepin's remarks have also pushed to unfamiliar territory Naidu's publicity team, which never fails to remind people of the accolades he won in the foreign media. The rebuff from the Swiss minister is the second critical comment on Naidu's programmes for development and administrative reforms. The World Bank team which visited the state a fortnight ago had also expressed unhappiness with the pace of reforms. The bank, which was to release another tranche of funds, withheld the money, asking the government to stick to its schedule. Naidu has made no bones about the present financial crunch in the state. He has dropped hints at many public meetings that he was compelled to increase power, water and transport tariffs and also cut subsidies to raise cash for development. The state's external debt has reached an all-time high of Rs 27,500 crore and the budgetary deficit for 1999-2000 is likely to touch Rs 3,700 crore. The state finance minister has said on the record that there was no proper accounting for nearly Rs 1,300 crore spent on various programmes. Recent delegations from the US and the UK have asked Naidu to be specific about growth charts and targets when seeking funds. The British delegation had criticised the subsidy raj and the sloth in reforms. Caught in the web of political compulsions, the government has put these issues on the back-burner till the budget.